Satra'
Classification and Dialects Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics If the gemination is not morphological, alike consonants are divided by shva. Writing System Grammar The basis of Satra' morphology is the root of a word, which consists in most cases of two open syllables, to which prefixes, suffixes and infixes are connected for word formation and inflection.The gemination of root vowels and the second consonant is also implied. For example, from root si.lhu ''(learn, study) words ''siqlhu ''(student), esiqlhu (teacher) ''siitlhu ''(school), ksitlhu (ignorance), ''sitlhuf ''(to study) are derived. Nouns Nouns are distinguished by having -t- or -q- as an infix and can be divided according to "models' in which they are formed: 1)the "actor" model. Characterized by infix -q-. Examples: ''riqshu (lit. ''the one who passes, warrior), ''riqtu ''(a cook) 2)the "being" model. Formed by infix -i-. Is used to form the names of animals, plants etc. eg. ''moise ''the one who delights (nightingale). 3)the "place" model. Formed by gemination of the first vowel and infix -t-, e.g. ''hiitna (lit. ''a place for living, house) 4)the "instrument" model. Formed by infix -q- and gemination of the second vowel. E.g. ''lheqyuu (lit. ''a means of walking, transport) 5)the "name of an action" model. Formed by infix -t- and is employed as gerund. The accusative of such nouns is used as infinitive, while the locative as a participle. ''Qatrif qatrili, shtuunkug. (''Playing games, they didn't think about him.) 6)the "light" model, which has no infixes and bears no specific meaning, e.g. ''reti ''(fire), ''liha ''evil. Nouns are not divided into any classes, thus their declension is standart. The nouns also tend to contain personal markers quite frequently. Personal markers precede the case ending. ''*deetbho - ''grief, sorrow, from de.bho - to worry. Incognital. Incognital is a category of personal markers, that is presented alongside with number in tables due to convenience. It is used to represend situations when subject/object is unknown. It's use in someway reminds of who-like pronouns in many other languages. Thus, ''deetbhong may be translated as "whose sorrow?" "For emphasis, though, a separate words are used. Personal Pronouns. The use of pronouns in Satra' is rather rare; they are implied mostly for emphasis. Their structure consists of element lu- ''with respective personal markers. Verbs The verbs in Satra' are conjugated acc. to their subject and object. The verb forms in the following table are presented with both object and subject marker of the respective form, e.g. ''li'n'bhi''s (he killed him)'' Note, that in 1pp and 2pp the subject and object markers differ only in their position. Tence and Aspect. Strictly speaking, Satra' has only two tenses - Past and Present. The present tense is not marked, whereas in past the first vowel of the root is geminated. Ling'n riitut? - ''what have you cooked? There is another form, which is sometimes called Future, but it is not necessarily so. It expresses rather assumption or hope and is formed by geminating the second vowel. ''Ling'n rituut... ''I wonder if/I hope that you cook something. Voice. Passive forms of the verbs are made by agglutinating prefixes n-, m-, t- which do not seem to follow any distribution pattern. ''Mpalfes satra'.(''Our language is made by me). Note that the object marker in this case denotes the agent, and vise versa. Causative voice is formed by prefix tsi-, si, of which the latter is used in the past tense. Thus, from mi.nu. (eat) we can form ''tsiminu ''(feed). Causative and passive prefixes can be combined to make causative-passive, like, from te.ra. (beat) ''nsitenrak ''(I was made to beat him). Intensive voice is formed by prefix 'e-, which can merge with other prefixes, making ne-, me-, te- for passive, tse-, se- for causative, me- for reciprocal. ''Nsitenrak ''from the previous paragraph can be made into ''nsetenrak ''(I was made to beat him harshly) or ''nesitenrak ''(I was violently made to beat him). Impersonal voice is used for describing situation where subject is not defined. It is forming by geminating the first consonant of the second root syllable, ''kelle - ''(one, someone, everybody) pour(s). If the object is needed, the vowel of the first syllable is inserted between the object marker and the next syllable (''kenelle). The only exception is the verb 'i.ra. (take) which inserts 'o' instead ''(inorra). Lhalaqqa Te - ''My name is Te (they call me Te). Syntax Lexicon Example text Category:Languages